Speaking the Word of God

Catechists occupied critical positions in their respective societies during the years between the start of the war in 1914, the return of European religious officials between 1919 and 1921, and the reestablishment of a fully-fledged colonial government in 1922. They vigorously demanded adherence to the doctrines of the faith and challenged African men's claims of being powerlessness over obstacles. Catechists often attained significant notoriety in local villages, as they were performers, messengers, leaders, teachers, and disciplinarians. Their prayers, proverbs, songs and other communicative devices were often their own compositions or derivations of Holy Scripture, rather than products of local tradition. Indeed, some catechists did not even evangelize among their own societies or language groups, choosing to use their position as radical newcomers to provoke reassessments of convention. Joseph Nga and Jacob Nkodo, two catechists from central-southern Cameroon, spoke Beti dialects but worked in Bafoussam and Eseka, respectively, and believed their extralocal ventures proved their “fastidiousness” to their catechumens. Bulu catechists traveled to Ewondo territory in Abong Mbang, exhorted by American mission leaders who marveled, “Our native Christian leaders in true New Testament fashion are giving of themselves in this area, in fields other than their own, to make Christ known.” Baptist catechists Alfred Ejengele and David Nkumndab had origins in the region surrounding Nkongsamba but traveled north to the Grassfields plateau to convert new peoples. In the Grassfields, they competed with Catholic catechists from the south who they accused of trying to “take mission stations by force.”

Thus, many catechists were not griots or repositories of longstanding practices and local knowledge. Rather, they were messengers of Good News coming from a foreign place. Pastor Modi Din Jacob affirmed he was a “vagabond for God…visiting all the churches of Bonaku, Lobetal, Edea, Eseka, Badjob, and Sakbayeme in order to feed and tend God's sheep.” Others also highlighted their identities as travelers and messengers, like the catechist Daniel Penjuna, who claimed he was “an assistant to our Savior Jesus Christ … in a difficult field,” and Pastor Paul Jocky, who described himself as a “traveling apostle.”